Coal Diorama | Part 4

We’re now in a pretty good position with our 2012 National Z Scale Convention, Coal Tipple diorama, there’s still work to do but at this stage this piece really starts to develop a feel. With the addition of talus and smaller rock, more soils and just a light weathering on the rock work; our scene is starting to take shape.

The rock pieces that looked haphazardly placed in the previous article now begin to make sense as they give form to our hills. The additional soil placed around these rocks now make them appear as if they are fighting their way through the hillside soil, not simply attached to the hillside.

On the tipple itself, we shot the roof sections with inexpensive flat black paint, as we’ll be creating a tarpaper roof. The black paint catches the roof edges nicely so the entire roof will appear black. I was torn on how to finish the roof here… corrugated panels would have been good but I’ve wanted to try regular old black construction paper to simulate tar paper. I’ve seen good results this way in N scale and figured let’s give it a go in Z!

The window frames, which in the last article looked a bit too green, have been toned down here with weathering powder. They’re now a bit grungier and will be more so once the overall building weathering is applied. Corner edging has been applied to all areas where the slots-and-tabs were visible, including along the bottom length of the tipple.

On ballast for our tipple scene, I have to admit I favor a look where the ballast is not even visible but mud, dirt and coal do the job. Having looked at lots of tipple photos online, grunge definitely appeal to me for ballast.

We’ll have the completed diorama, along with more build photos, online this coming Sunday, April 15. Make sure to stop back to see the final results!

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Category: Ztrains Build Corner